01 Jun 2006
“Fine, go and steal a car then!”
– A Bible study leader whose identity will remain anonymous.
Last night Stealthy Selo, Maurading Mark, Getaway Gem and I stole and proceeded to dismantle a car.
2231: Getaway Gem pulls up outside a house in suburban Matraville. There is an anxious wait for all the car’s occupants; the Insider is not yet Inside, and thus several nervous minutes were spent in contention over who would play Jawbreaker (alas, there was no Bejeweled).
2240: The Insider arrives in an unmarked vehicle. Stealthy Selo moves in to rendezvous point, contact is made. The Insider proceeds inside: but there is a complication! The keys have been obscured, so a further accomplice is required on the Inside. The accomplice succeeds in returning with a key — but it is the wrong one! With much trepidation, he returns inside on a second reconnaissance task, this time emerging with the correct keys. The car in question had already been entered, but hot-wiring cars remains marginally beyond even our elite covert-ops abilities.
2252: Stealthy Selo climbs into the car, which is situated on a slight incline. Without starting the engine, we release the handbrake and roll/push the car some thirty meters from the house. Getaway Gem waits further up the street: she clicks on her lights, and starts her car as Stealthy Selo climbs into front passenger seat, Marauding Mark the back, and I the driver’s. The Appropriated Vehicle starts first time (!!) and I pull out with Gem following.
2303: The convoy arrives at HQ, whereupon cars are parked, shuffled, and re-arranged so as to enable sufficient access to the Appropriated Vehicle.
2330: The Appropriated Vehicle is emptied (no meagre task), and various cleaning commences. Simultaneously, the destruction begins.
In this process, a few strange things are discovered: not to be deterred, we continued in our quest to install a fridge. We needed power in the boot of the car… and, short of removing the entire dash, the best we could do was stealing it from the cigarette lighter socket. If we had more time, I would have tapped the back of the lighter socket’s power and re-crimped the terminals before replacing it, but we didn’t (have time). A small casualty for a completely-useless-but-rather-cool addition to the boot of any car!
We were finished by about 2:20 am this morning, and un-appropriated the vehicle in due fashion before making an escape in the Odyssey, which had been deposited there earlier that evening in a cunning manouver orchestrated by Getaway Gem’s stealthy sedan (I really can’t remember if it’s a sedan or not, but cheesy alliterative effects are too good to be passed up! Read it and CRINGE! Muwahahaha. And it was stealthy. Appropriately missing an interior light, her car could have snuck up on anyone!). All was done by 2:40… some eight-and-a-half hours later our covert adventures were uncovered.
Happy birthday, Tim!
Full coverage available in this Flickr photoset. We were kind of busy and not taking photos often-enough, so maybe there’ll be some photos of the fridge itself in the not-too-distant future!
30 May 2006
29 May 2006
So I’d kinda been meaning to get around to looking at what exactly they believed for a couple of months now, because it’d come up a few times and because it’s useful to have a clear understanding of what various groups believe (especially those who claim to be of the same faith).
Well, two elderly-ish ladies came knocking this morning (no name tags or suits, even!) and gave me a couple of books, which was pretty timely (but not co-incidental) because Dave made a brief comment regarding Christ’s failure to deny his identity as Lord when Thomas confessed his identity as Lord and God (John 20:24-29), and how this is contrary to what Jehovah’s Witnesses believe. (That — briefly — is how I wish Rowan Kemp had dealt with John 1, but no matter. I suppose Gem is the only person who would know what I’m talking about there… shrug. He got a feel for the audience better after that week, I think.) The most significant difference between their beliefs and what the Bible teaches is in the realm of God’s trinitarian nature. That is, they claim Jesus is:
Jehovah’s [God’s] most precious Son — and for good reason. He is called “the firstborn of all creation,” for he was God’s first creation. (Colossians 1:15)
I immediately had to check out their quote, because the NIV is what I remembered that verse from (wherein it is rendered “the firstborn over all creation” — helpful, but not literal enough for usefulness here). Knowing enough Greek to be dangerous (and probably nowhere near enough to be wise), I wound up checking out the original (after seeing the NASB + ESV agreeing with each other and the JW quote). Firstborn, or Ï€Ïωτοτόκος (transliterated prototokos), is “usually [used] as [a] noun, literally or figuratively”.
So we know that it’s not necessarily literal, and in other parts of the Bible (Genesis 28:14 amongst others) promises are made that will be carried by the firstborn (the idea of a “birthright” persists throughout the whole Bible). In Genesis 25:31, Esau sells his birthright to Jacob… the idea here is that Jacob becomes the heir. Christ, then, is (as “firstborn of creation”), the heir and realiser of all these promises. It doesn’t necessarily mean he’s literally God’s son… clearly, the idea of firstborn throughout the Bible is tied mostly to that inheritance, not to literal birth (observe again Genesis 25 and Jacob’s hijacking of his brother’s inheritance!)
Hence, to say Jesus is the “firstborn” over creation is to say that He is the heir of all things (Hebrews 1:1-3a):
1Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, 2but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world. 3He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power.
(ESV)
I’m sure someone somewhere has argued all of the above far better, I just can’t find it and wanted to write this as a way of understanding that more clearly myself. A better argument is probably the Thomas/Jesus thing alluded to above (the talk will be available online soon, and will be entitled “What’s the Conspiracy about Jesus?”. I found one great article on the Trinity and Jesus’ status as a deity which is probably worth a read if you wanted to find out more.
28 May 2006
Mmmm pretty. Result of a random excursion last night.
27 May 2006
So far as the album Lights and Sounds goes, this song is pretty different.
Jimmy wasn’t really popular
He had a couple of friends back home
And sooner or later they’re all getting out so he had to join up alone
He was dreaming of the Ivy League since he was only three feet tall
And get the hell out of jersey and then he would never look back at all
And then your heroes say
That miles away
We lost another one that we sent with a gun
They’re gonna miss him he was two weeks from twenty and there’s still no shame
From the man to blame
Jimmy never had a reason to stay
Cos all the factories shut down
All he had was a line for his name
So he could sign away his right to be proud
He tried to kiss her on the way out the door,
She just put her little hand on his face
I don’t understand why you’re leaving, she said
But I hope your gonna ask me to wait
And then your heroes say
That miles away
We lost another one that we sent with a gun
His lady missed him, he was two weeks from twenty and there’s still no shame
From the man to blame
Jimmy’s mother went to Capitol Hill
So she could fill her heart up with joy
Maybe shake a few hands while she’s there and tell them thank you sir for taking my boy.
And then your heroes say
That miles away
We lost another one that we sent with a gun
His momma missed him he was two weeks from twenty and there’s still no shame
From the man to blame
No there’s still no shame
And we’re all to blame
We’re all to blame
We’re all to blame
We’re all to blame
We’re all to blame
Maybe the lyrics of every track are this politicized, and it’s just that the elocution in this track makes the message more accessible, but I’d hazard not. I don’t normally listen to song lyrics, mostly because music is rarely an object-of-attention for me (that is, anything more than appealing noise in the background to aid other tasks), but for some reason this stood out.
I’ve heard Yellowcard dismissed as emo crap… is there such thing as political emo crap? I suppose that’d aptly characterise the apparent inclination of most politically active (i.e. not apathetic/indifferent) uni students: perpetually frustrated and looking to hurt someone (quoth the banner, “The next cut: Howard’s neck”). Well, that seems to be the case at Sydney, anyway. ;-)
Anyway… enough of that. I liked the song even if it’s a bit US-parochial (i.e. one guy two weeks from twenty is more valuable than [blank] foreigners) … and yeah, I know this artistic sentiment isn’t isolated to recent conflict or even just the US, and yeah, I know it’s a valid objection. If you haven’t heard it yet it’s worth listening to at some point.